Condemned Michigan Home Overrun By Ballooning Rat Population

To say this Michigan home has a rodent problem would be putting it lightly.

There are currently more than 1,000 rats inside a condemned house near Grand Rapids and they're multiplying at a rate of 100 per day, a Fruitport Township official told FOX 17. The homeowner, Donald Carr, reportedly has until the end of this week to make a dent in the problem before local officials consider ordering an exterminator to fumigate. If it comes to that, Carr could be assessed as much as $30,000 through a tax lien.

"It is a real and present danger to the local community," Fruitport Township Supervisor Brian Werschem said at a township board of trustees meeting on Monday, according to the Muskegon Chronicle. The feral rats, he said, are "not afraid of humans in any way, shape or form. They'll bite, carry ticks and fleas, and are susceptible to rabies and disease."

Cane toads were <a href="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/cane-toad/#">introduced into the Australian wild</a> in 1935 in an attempt to control cane beetles, pests that destroyed sugar cane plantations in the country. Unfortunately, the flying cane beetles didn't make for easy prey and the effort to control them failed.
The government released 102 toads from Hawaii into plantations north of Queensland and there are now an estimated 1.5 billion in Australia. They're about <a href="http://australianmuseum.net.au/Cane-Toad">the size of a softball</a>, excrete poison from their skin, and have been known to steal pet food.